windows secuirty center alert?

[melancholymecha]

ok so Im checking my email & notice a big red x on the lower right of my screen, so I click on it & its a message from windows security center telling me that my AVG antivirus is turned off. It them tells me to click the button to the right so i can turn it on. But I went to the AVG program manually & it shows that everything is on & running.

when i click that "turn on" button in the Windows security center it asks me if i trust this program:

c:\programfiles(x86)\avg\avg8\avgwsc.exe

so um what is this? Its probably nothing bad(heck its probably something thats obviously safe to you guys, but I wouldnt know) but I just want to make sure Im not gonna install some sneaky malware or something.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Would you mind posting a screenshot of what you're seeing? It could be legit or it might be malware masquerading as AVG/Windows.

 

[RobertVA]

Version numbers of the operating system and software you are inquiring about are usually helpful.

Did you manually override the installation folder name or is the C:\programfiles(x86) folder something related to an OS released since Windows XP? In Windows XP I believe the Windows Security Center notifications have included icons shaped like a shield. there have been a few occasions when I received a warning during boot up, but the problem resolved during a later portion of the boot process (I'm thinking before the network connection was operating). I don't think I've received any of these warnings since updating to AVG 9.x.

The \avg8 segment of the path appears to be an indication you are using some 8.xx version of AVG. Knowing the ".xx.xx" portion of the version might be a factor that could help someone help you. Is there some reason you haven't updated to version 9.0.851?

Perhaps you should initiate a scan if you haven't already.

 

[melancholymecha]

R. Maxwell Ill put up a screenshot shortly, imageshack seems to be down right now.

Robert sorry Im using xp sp 2

avg antvirus is ver. 8.5.445

yes I got a red sheild with an x on it, thats what told me AVG was no longer running.

I didnt even know a version 9 was out, I usually get a notification that there's a new version available. So Im trying to update but this is weird, when i open the AVG prgram now it tells me on the left hand side menu that its updating & I click on it & takes me to the update page but it just says updating progress- checking for new updates, but nothing is happening. There's also a big banner under the AVG window saying to update to 9.0 , save when you upgrade today with a link to click on.

Did you manually override the installation folder name or is the C:\programfiles(x86) folder something related to an OS released since Windows XP?

I dont know, this system has always had two program files folders on the c drive, program files and program files(x86) they each have various programs from the op stored there.

 

[Lindley]

is the C:\programfiles(x86) folder something related to an OS released since Windows XP?

You get that on XP64.

 

[M'Sharak]

ok so Im checking my email & notice a big red x on the lower right of my screen, so I click on it & its a message from windows security center telling me that my AVG antivirus is turned off. It them tells me to click the button to the right so i can turn it on. But I went to the AVG program manually & it shows that everything is on & running.

when i click that "turn on" button in the Windows security center it asks me if i trust this program:

c:\programfiles(x86)\avg\avg8\avgwsc.exe

so um what is this? Its probably nothing bad(heck its probably something thats obviously safe to you guys, but I wouldnt know) but I just want to make sure Im not gonna install some sneaky malware or something.

I get that message every once in a while when AVG does its scheduled update in the morning. The update downloads and installs, but there seems to be a momentary blip as AVG switches to the updated database where it looks to Windows Security Center as if AVG is turned off. By the time I open the AVG control interface, everything always reads as active.

That avgwsc.exe seems to be an AVG module for Windows 7 and Vista only, and a legitimate process. See this thread from the AVG forum, particularly the last post by jirka82:

http://forums.avg.com/us-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=80501

 

[melancholymecha]

^yep thats exactly what I had & it seems to have corrected itself. So, false alarm but now I know what to do if it happens again. Thanks for your help everyone.